


ten out of ten

by ArgentLives



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Body Image, F/M, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 17:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5595274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re just saying that because we’re dating, and you’re trying to make me feel better,” Cisco wrinkles his nose up and carefully avoids her eyes, which lasts for a good half-a-second before Iris is cupping his face in her hands, guiding his attention back to her.</p><p>“I’m really not,” Iris raises an eyebrow at him, stepping back to make a show of looking him up and down, eyes sparkling with satisfaction. “Face it Cisco, you’re hot. Very attractive,” she tilts her head, like she’s trying to see him from every angle, and makes a little frame out of her fingers to squint through, stepping back again to make sure she’s capturing the whole picture. “Ten out of ten, definitely.”<br/> </p><p>[Cisco is wary about his first superhero suit, but Iris is ever the supportive girlfriend]</p>
            </blockquote>





	ten out of ten

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt: "not wearing that"

“Ta-da!” Iris says, brandishing the suit in front of her with a wide smile on her face, her eyes sparkling with delight. “I had a hard time deciding on the color at first, but I think the blue will look good on you.”

“Iris, that looks–it looks–” Cisco flounders for words, trying and no doubt failing to keep the expression of horror off his face. “It looks so _tight_.”

“Well, duh,” she rolls her eyes like he couldn’t be any more obvious, “That’s the point.”

Something in the way she’s smirking doesn’t quite sit right with him, and suddenly he finds that he’s not all that concerned with hurting her feelings anymore. “Okay, look, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I’m not–I can’t–I’m not wearing that!” He crosses his arms across his chest with a huff, glaring at the offending material.

“Oh, yes you are,” Iris insists, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re the one who asked me to help design it while you worked on the tech to put in it. This took me forever.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know you were going to make it so…formfitting.”

“What’s the big deal? Barry’s suit is skin-tight too. It’s, like, the thing for superheroes, right? I was just trying to make yours authentic,” Iris huffs, placing a hand on her hip in annoyance. “You could be a little more grateful, you know.”

“Yeah, well,” Cisco shifts uncomfortably, the room suddenly feeling much stuffier than he remembers it being just moments ago, “Barry’s a lot more confident about his body than I am, okay?”

Iris is silent for a moment, her gaze calculating but not unkind, as she studies Cisco’s face, and it’s all he can do not to look away. “He’s really not, though,” she says slowly, and places the suit to the side, draping it gently over the chair Cisco just recently abandoned. She lays a hand on his arm, squeezing lightly. “Is that was this is about?”

“He’s…not?”

“Not at all,” she shakes her head, looking at Cisco with a fresh sort of understanding in her eyes. “He’s super insecure about it, actually. He has been since we were kids. Also, I don’t have to remind you that you’re the one who designs his suit like that, even after every time he manages to blow it up again. And as for you, Mr. Ramon,” Iris pokes him lightly in the chest, more reassuring than reprimanding, “you are perfect just the way you are.”

“Like the song?” Cisco quips, feeling the tension start to drain from his shoulders, and Iris gives him a warning look that clearly says ‘if you start singing right now I _will_ hurt you.’

She waits two seconds to make sure that he is not, in fact, about to break into song, and lets out a long breath. “Sure, like that. What I mean is that I know I can’t magically gift you with confidence, and I know it’s a hard thing to come by, but trust me when I say that you have every reason to be. In every department, including the physical.” The last part she adds with a wink, squeezing his bicep playfully. She really sounds like she means it, and yet…

“You’re just saying that because we’re dating, and you’re trying to make me feel better,” Cisco wrinkles his nose up and carefully avoids her eyes, which lasts for a good half-a-second before Iris is cupping his face in her hands, guiding his attention back to her.

“I’m really not,” Iris raises an eyebrow at him, stepping back to make a show of looking him up and down, eyes sparkling with satisfaction. “Face it Cisco, you’re hot. Very attractive,” she tilts her head, like she’s trying to see him from every angle, and makes a little frame out of her fingers to squint through, stepping back again to make sure she’s capturing the whole picture. “Ten out of ten, definitely.”

Cisco laughs, but his voice is smaller than he’d like it to be when he asks, “You sure you’re not just saying that?”

Iris sighs and moves closer again so that she can lay a reassuring hand on his chest, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt in a way that’s incredibly calming. “I mean, yeah, you should know I don’t really date people who I don’t find attractive. I guess I’m just shallow like that.”

Cisco can’t hold back a snort at that. He doesn’t know in what universe the words “Iris West” and “shallow” can possibly exist within the same sentence and make sense–maybe Earth 2 or 3 or 5675 or whatever–but certainly not this one.

Iris grins at him like she knows exactly what he’s thinking, and keeps her hand on his chest, using her other to grab the suit off the back of the chair and press it against him. “Look, at least try it on for me, okay? If you really hate it we can scrap it, I promise. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. But just give it a shot, first.”

The ‘for me,’ predictably, gets him like it does every time, and he reluctantly accepts the material from her grip. “Fine,” he mumbles, deciding that it’s probably best to just get this over with, and steals away to the little bathroom down the hallway, Iris’s approving smile following him all the way there. He could just get changed in front of her, really, it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before, but there’s a certain vulnerability in it that he’s not quite ready to put on full display, yet. It’s enough that he’s even trying on the damn thing in the first place. Iris doesn’t question it, letting him go with that soft sense of understanding in her eyes, and it’s only one of the things he loves about her so much.

It takes less than a minute for him to get undressed and slip it on, just one, single piece, and he has to admit that it is surprisingly comfortable, and flexible in all the right places that will certainly be an advantage when fighting the bad guys, plus he finds himself looking down at it on him and already cataloging everywhere he can add his tech. And, if he’s being completely honest, although he carefully avoids looking in the mirror, being in the suit, well…he feels like a hero. And looking down at the material, fitting just right against his skin, he sort of thinks he might look like one too. He takes a deep breath and makes pushes the door to the bathroom open, his casual clothes clutched tightly in his hand, and there’s a whistle that greets his appearance back in the cortex that he’s not quite expecting.

Iris pushes herself off of the counter she’d been leaning against and meets him halfway, extracting the bunched up clothes from his grip with care and setting it carefully aside, never taking her eyes off him. She’s grinning at him so widely he’s simultaneously flattered and a little self-conscious, but as per usual, Iris quickly puts his concerns at ease.

“Very sexy,” Iris crows, beaming at him, making a little twirling motion with fingers to indicate she wants him to turn around. He does, taking his time to give Iris a full view of everything, feeling more sure of himself by the moment, and even when he’s not facing her, her enthusiastic clapping fills his ears. “See, I _told_ you you could rock it.”

He catches sight of his reflection in the currently blank screens of the monitors, his shoulders back and standing just a little taller than usual, and with Iris cheering him on like this, he can almost start to believe it.

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my [tumblr](http://lesbianlaurellance.tumblr.com/)


End file.
